Nonfiction Chronicles: Marathon Sunday

Think the New York City Marathon is a grueling test of endurance? Well, to the Tarahumara Indians of the Copper Canyons of Mexico, it’s a walk in the park. This reclusive tribe of super-runners can go hundreds of miles on desert terrain clad only in thin sandals after an all-night party drinking homemade tequila. Author McDougall goes on a quest to discover the secrets to their peace-loving, cooperative, and very physical lifestyle by seeking out the mythical Caballo Blanco, an American ex-pat who earned their trust and serves as intermediary. Using the Tarahumara as a backdrop, McDougall digresses into interesting topics such as the biomechanical superiority of barefoot running, reasons for the decline of U.S. distance running, and how evolutionary evidence points to the fact that the human body was, in fact, built for running.